I'm reading from the Gospel of
Matthew chapter 7 this morning. Matthew 7. It's commonly referred
to as the Sermon on the Mount. Chapters 5 through 7. The Lord
Jesus Christ went up onto a mountain and spoke these words. I'm reading
verses 28 and 29. It says, It came to pass when
Jesus had ended these sayings, after He preached, the people
were astonished at His doctrine. They were amazed. He said things
that they had never heard before. And it says in verse 29, He taught
them as one having authority, not as the scribes. Scribes preached
or spoke in intellectual terms, information, sermons of morality
and law, good citizenships and citizenship and so forth. But
the Lord Jesus Christ, has all authority. He is the writer of
the book, the Bible. He is the Lord of Lords, King
of Kings. And he spoke as the ultimate
authority on all things, because he is. Maybe you've never really
heard what the Lord said on this mountain. The people hadn't,
and they were astonished at what he said. In chapter 5, it begins,
seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, And when
he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth
and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor, and so forth. This
was primarily to his disciples, though the multitude heard it.
As today, many are called, but few are chosen. His disciples
were His chosen, His elect, His called, those whom He loved,
those He came for, those whom He revealed Himself to, revealed
the truth to. And though the multitude heard
these things, these were primarily to His disciples, whom He called
the salt of the earth, whom He called the light of the world,
whom He called sons of the Father. And He distinguished them from
the world. He said, the world will hate
you because you're not of the world. So this is not to all
men indiscriminately, but to his disciple. Although all hear
it, and all are accountable, yet only God's people will really
hear this. And he tells us what true blessings
are. In verses 3 and 4 of chapter
5, he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Oh, the world knows nothing about
this. They think blessings are to be rich and famous. But no,
he says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom
of heaven, that they will have a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. He said in verse 5, blessed are
the meek. Oh, the world thinks the proud are the blessed, but
no, the Lord gives nothing but woe pronounced upon the proud. He said every proud looker should
be brought down. Verse 6, he said, Blessed are
they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall
be filled. Hunger and thirst. Oh, but the
world thinks the full are the blessed, that those who have
their fill of this world of sin and so forth are blessed. But
no, Christ said those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Do you know what true righteousness is? But I'll tell you this, if
you don't, Christ is the righteousness of God, the kingdom of heaven.
Verse 10, he said, blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness sake, persecuted for believing the truth. They
won't be loved, he said. Those who love the truth won't
be loved by the world. And on the contrary, he said,
those who are well thought of, well thought of. He said, Woe
is unto you if men speak well of you. Remember, the Son of
God Himself was hated and killed by the world. Yes, the religious
world and the world in general. And He said of His true people,
you will be hated of all men for my name's sake, for righteousness'
sake, for the truth's sake. In verse 20 of chapter 5, He
said, Accept your righteousness exceed the righteousness of scribes
and Pharisees, you'll in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.
He's saying you must be as holy, as good as God to be in heaven.
You must be perfectly righteous. Leviticus 22, 21 says it shall
be perfect to be accepted. That is, and God looks on the
heart to offend in one point of God's holy laws to be guilty
of it all. Do you understand that? Do you
understand Why Paul wrote so much about, by the law, no flesh
shall be justified by works. No one is saved by their works,
by their deeds, by their morality. Not one thing you've ever done
accounts for anything before God, because God looks on the
heart. It has to be absolutely perfect
in thought, word, and deed. Do you understand that? That's
what the Lord is saying here, and they were astonished, and
maybe you are too. He talked about the commandments, the law.
In verse 21, he said, You have heard it said, Thou shalt not
kill. But he said, in verse 22, Whoever is angry with his brother
without a cause is guilty. Down in verse 27, You have heard
it said, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But he said, Whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already
in his heart. That is, God holds people accountable
for their thoughts. To think, to be angry, is to
be guilty of murder. To look on someone with lust
or to covet is idolatry. That's what the Lord said. Are
you guilty? Are you? Yes, every human being is. Whatsoever
things the law saith, saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. Yes, the finest woman on the
earth is guilty before God, just like the lowest harlot on the
street. That's true. Do you understand
that? Well, that astonished people.
They were shocked. They were offended. In verse
34 of chapter 5, he says, Swear not at all, either by heaven
or it's God's throne. Verse 37, Let your communication
be yes, yes, no, no, whatsoever is more than these cometh of
evil. Another place it says, God will
not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Have you ever
said this, O Lord, or Lordy, or Lord of mercy, well my god
You've taken God's name in vain and you're guilty. And God will
not hold you guiltless who take His name in vain. Do you understand
that? God's name is holy. David said, Unite my heart to
fear thy name. He said, Make mention His name
is holy. All those who have God's name
on their bumper sticker have taken His name in vain. All those
who have God's name or use His name in any way that's not absolute
worship and reverence and fear and respect, have taken His name
in vain." Well, that astonished the people. They were astonished.
They were amazed. They were shocked by what they
were hearing. Maybe you are too. Verse 1, take heed, you do not
your alms before men to be seen of them. You have no reward of
your Father in heaven. He said those who do, those who
sound the trumpet before them, the hypocrites, actors, those
who are playing a part, who look religious but don't know God,
they do this in the synagogues, in the streets. He said that's
their reward. He said, verse 5, when you pray, don't be like
these hypocrites, these actors. They love standing in synagogues
on the corner of streets to be seen of men. In other words,
those who stand on the courthouse steps and pray, they're doing
it to be seen. And God's not listening. In fact,
the Scripture says that which is highly esteemed among men
is an abomination to God. Oh, it shocked the people, especially
the hypocrites, the scribes, the Pharisees. It angered them.
He said, when you pray, verse 6, enter into your closet, do
it in secret. You're not praying to be seen
of men so they'll know you're a good Christian. You're praying
to God to be heard by God. Verse 7, he says, use not vain
repetitions. Anyone who uses vain repetitions. The Catholics pray over and over
again the same thing in repetition. Repetitious prayers to Mary.
God doesn't hear any of them. God doesn't hear anybody who
prays to Mary. Mary is not the intercessor between
God and men. Jesus Christ is. And those who
do, those who pray repetition prayer and pray to anyone except
through Christ and do it publicly, Not privately. They're heathen.
That's what he called them. He said, the heathen do this.
Well, that shocked people. Verse 19, in chapter 6, he says,
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. Where your treasure is, that's
where your heart will be also. That's what the Lord said. Treasures. That's home, job, possession,
family, the world, the things of the world. One place he said,
Whosoever loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. Love not the world, or the things of the world. Now all
that's in the world, he said, is lust, lust of the flesh, lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, and it'll perish. Whosoever
loves these things more than Jesus Christ is not a child of
God. That's what Christ said. And it shocked the people. It
astonished the people. And they didn't like it. He that
is of God heareth God's Word. You cannot, he said in verse
24, you cannot serve two masters. You hate the one and love the
other. You cannot serve God and man. And you cannot be given
to the world and love God. You cannot give yourself to the
world and God. You cannot love things and this
world and love God. You can't do it. Christ said
it's impossible. Verse 31. Verse 31, the Lord
said, Take no thought what you'll eat and drink. He said, The Gentiles
do this. That's all they think about.
He said, Lost people, all they think about is food and drink
and things. Their God is their belly. God's
people don't do that. They think about things above.
Their affection is set on things above. That's what He said. Chapter
7, verse 5, He says, You're a hypocrite. If you don't see the log or beam
in your eye, you can only see the little splinter or moat or
toothpick in other people's eyes. If you don't see your own great
sins, you are blind. That man, that woman who says
they have quit sinning, that man or that woman who says they
have not sinned every sin there is to sin, at least thought it,
is a liar. The truth is not in them. 1 John
1 says, if we say we have no sin, all sin, we will deceive
ourselves. The truth is not in it. He says,
if we say we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar. His
Word is not in it. The only reason the most moral
woman on earth is not the worst harlot is the grace of God, the
restraining grace of God. Nothing in that person. That's
what Christ said and it shocked the people. Chapter 7, he said
in verse 6, don't give that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast
your pearls before swine. They'll trample it. Don't give
that which is holy, that is the Word of God, the truth of God,
to dogs, to swine. God's people are His sheep that
He calls some people swine. He says don't give the truth
of God, the Word of God, the Gospel of God. Don't talk about
the Son of God as an offer to men for them to trample underfoot,
to accept or reject. But no, the Gospel, the truth,
the Word of God is a proclamation. It's a command to all men everywhere
to bow. It's not an invitation to rebels
against God. It's a summons from the King
of Heaven, the Lord of Heaven, the King, the Judge. A summons
to bow. Not an offer to men to accept
or reject. A proclamation. Bow. Believe. Repent. No, no, don't give this
thing that is holy to dogs or swine. No, trample it underfoot. Verses 13 and 14, enter into
the straight gate. Wide is the gate. Broad is the
way that leads to destruction. Many there be that go therein.
Straight is the gate. Narrow is the way that leadeth
unto life. Few there be that find it. He said many are called, but
few are chosen. The truth is narrow. There are few saved. Most are
lost. At any given time in history,
most are lost. The truth has always been in
the minority. Ask Noah. Look at the story of
Noah. And he said, Many, verse 22,
will say unto me, Lord, Lord, and he said, I never knew you.
And he goes on down to say, Christ is the only foundation, the only
way, truth, and life. And they were astonished at his
doctrine. What about you? Oh, I pray the
Lord will open your eyes and open your ear to hear the truth.
Amen.